Wednesday, March 13, 2013

HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE - GUEST AUTHOR PATRICE WILTON

Romance author Patrice Wilton is part of an exciting new venture
with Amazon Montlake as one of their first debut authors in a new program. A Hero Lies
Within, the first book in her Returning War Hero series, will be one of the
first books to be released as a “serial” Kindle book. Amazon describes this
program as, “Kindle Serials are stories published in episodes,
with future episodes delivered at no additional cost.” For Patrice’s book,
there are a total of seven episodes with new episodes delivered every two
weeks. In May the book will be available in every format, and the second of
her books, Handle With Care, will start the next serial.

Today Patrice is here to tell us about programs that
help returning veterans. Learn more about Patrice and her books at her website. -- AP

It was during my research
for A Hero Lies Within, that I
realized someone had beaten Jake Harrington, the hero of my story, in providing
help for our homeless veterans by a good twenty years.

The Faith, Hope, Love,
Charity organization, and the Stand Down House, started by Roy Foster, opened
their doors in May 2000. The multi-tiered program provides
emergency/transitional housing and supportive services for veterans struggling
with addictions, mental illness, PTSD, traumatic brain injuries and physical
limitations.

For more than twenty years,
Roy Foster, once a homeless vet himself, has roamed the woods at night, and
made it his mission to get every homeless vet off the street and ensure that no
man is left behind.

Since the inception of this
program, more than 2000 veterans have received support and regained their
lives.

Here are some startling
facts from the Center for American Progress and the Stand Down House websites:

1.One third of the
homeless in American are veterans.

2.Between 500,000
to 800,000 veterans will be homeless for some time during the year, and 100,000
to 300,000 live in shelters or on the street, on any given night.

3.968,000 veterans
are living in poverty.

4.1.2 million took
advantage of mental health services in recent years.

5.45% of our
homeless vets suffer from PTSD

6.One in ten of
the homeless veterans are disabled due to injuries sustained at war.

7.The number is
increasing – more than 20,000 wounded during the Iraq and Afghanistan war.

8.2 million
Americans fought for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom,
many have repeated deployments, and the average age is 35 on their return.

9.Unemployment for
veterans aged 18-24 was 33% compared to 15% for non vets of the same age.

10.The new
generation of vets are suffering from PTSD and TBI-traumatic braininjury- which is making it harder for
them to readjust to society.

I was humbled during my
research to discover this information, and I have the utmost respect for every
man and woman in uniform that fought for our freedom so that we, as Americans,
can continue to live as we do in this great country of ours.

Old secrets linger and two
reunited lovers are faced with more deception and mistrust. Can their love
survive a second time around?

Tara Winslow is a Palm Beach news reporter,
fighting not only to keep her job, but take over the nightly anchor spot. Her boss
has axed her special runaway series, and wants “feel good stories”. She has
only two weeks to come up with something big, or the special series will be
taken over by the new anchorman who seems determined to ruin her career.

Jake Harrington has returned from two tours
in Iraq, and this wounded warrior is searching only for peace. Instead, he runs
into Tara Winslow, the girl he once loved and wronged, through no fault of his
own. Refusing his friendship, she agrees to help him search for a family friend
who has gone missing since his return from Iraq. In return Tara requests
upbeat, happy-ending stories about the everyday heroes he served with, the men
and women who never received recognition but went above and beyond the call of
duty. His memory is sketchy at best, and the only stories he remembers are the
ones she doesn’t want to hear.

Jake Harrington
left her once when her life was falling apart, and now he’s back, and so are
all the emotions she fought hard to expel. Can she forget his bitter betrayal,
and will he forgive hers when to save her career she must betray his trust?

11 comments:

What a wonderful theme for a series of books. Thank you for telling me. I'm so glad Mr. Foster started that program for vets because I am appalled at the statistics. No veteran who served in our wars should be on the streets. Not a one.Patti

Thanks for an informative blog. I think our country's leaders should be appalled at how Vets are treated. I plan on contributing to the organizations you mentioned because it's something all Americans should do.

I started a book of my own with this theme! I used to work with vets, and this is a theme that is near and dear to me, espeically because my daddy is one as well. I'm a daddy's girl, even if I am a million years old now. Anyway, I will gladly support these books!

Hi Patty, Sandy, Lani and Liz.Thank you for commenting and it is a serious problem that will only get worse in the next few years as more and more vets come home--so many suffering from PTSD and other issues. I learned so much while I was writing this book, and have a much greater understanding and appreciation for our homeless problems.

CRAFTY CRIMES

PATCHWORK PERIL

DECOUPAGE CAN BE DEADLY

MOSAIC MAYHEM

REVENGE OF THE CRAFTY CORPSE

CREWEL INTENTIONS

an Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery

DEATH BY KILLER MOP DOLL

ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN

THE ANASTASIA POLLACK CRAFTING MYSTERIES

Read about Anastasia in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery seriesby Lois Winston. Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the series, received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Kirkus Reviews called it "North Jersey's more mature answer to Stephanie Plum." Assault With a Deadly Glue Gunwas also a Book of the Year Award nominee from ForeWord Reviews, a Daphne du Maurier Award finalist, and a Readers Choice Award nominee from the Salt Lake City Library System. Other books in the series include Death by Killer Mop Doll, Revenge of the Crafty Corpse, Decoupage Can Be Deadly, and the ebook only mini-mysteries Crewel Intentions and Mosaic Mayhem. Look for more of Anastasia's adventures coming in the future.

About Me

I'm the crafts editor at American Woman magazine; the single parent of two teenage boys and a Shakespeare quoting parrot; caretaker to a semi-invalid, communist mother-in-law from Hell and her demon dog; daughter to a multi-married descendant of the Czars (supposedly); reluctant cat-sitter to Mama's extremely corpulent white Persian cat; a born Jersey girl; and star of my own amateur sleuth mystery series.